I revealed that the energy i'd stolen in Santa Prisca was from Reach Technology. I didn't reveal it because I wanted to be honest, I revealed it because Robin was clearly already catching on to me after calling out i'd stolen some Zeta energy the other day. Playing dumb when a world-class detective has the data only makes you look more untrustworthy.
By framing it as a "system malfunction," I was struggling to contain. I got from being labeled a thief and being a liability to someone they feel responsible for fixing.
I walked into the kitchen, the smell of M'gann's latest attempt at "Hello-Me-Nuggets" filling the air. It wasn't half bad. Superboy was already at the table, tearing into a pile of food with a focused intensity that suggested he was trying to offend the plate.
"Seat's taken," he grunted without looking up as I approached.
"There are six chairs, Superboy. I'm pretty sure your ego doesn't take up all of them," I said, sliding into the seat opposite him.
He paused, a fork halfway to his mouth, and looked at me. His blue eyes were cold, but there was a flicker of something else—curiosity, maybe, or just a desire to see if I'd flinch. I didn't. I let my gaze remain steady, my posture relaxed.
"M'gann, these look... edible," I called out as she floated over with a tray. "Better than the charcoal from earlier."
"Thank you, Vex!" she chirped, her eyes bright. "I used the 'low and slow' technique you mentioned. It really does make a difference."
I took a nugget, dipping it into a sauce that was a questionable shade of purple. As I chewed, I scanned the room. Kaldur was at the head of the table, watching the interaction with a calm, paternalistic gaze. Wally was a blur in the corner, raiding the fridge for the third time in ten minutes.
I activated the Sharingan for a microsecond—just long enough to see the flow of energy in the room. Superboy's solar-processed cells were glowing like a furnace. M'gann's telepathic signature was a soft, undulating wave.
Weak links. Wally was impulsive. His metabolism was his obvious weakness. If he ran out of fuel, he was useless. M'gann was emotionally fragile. She wanted to be loved more than she wanted to be a hero. Superboy was a walking powder keg of daddy issues and repressed rage.
"So, Vex," Wally said, suddenly appearing in the chair next to me with a mountain of sandwiches. "The Ring. If it's not Oan, and it's not Reach tech, where'd you get it? Did it fall off a truck? Because I know a guy who knows a guy..."
"It was a gift," I said, the lie smooth and practiced. "From someone who didn't want the Guardians poking around their business. It's a prototype. High output, low stability."
"Sounds like my first chemistry set," Robin said, walking in and grabbing a juice box. He didn't sit down. "Except my chemistry set didn't almost level a transformer in Santa Prisca."
The table went quiet. Kaldur set his glass down. "Vex acted to neutralize a threat, Robin. The methods were... unconventional, but the result was a successful mission."
"Unconventional is one word for it," Robin countered, his eyes hidden behind those lenses. "Another is 'dangerous.' If that ring had overloaded while we were in the Bio-Ship, we'd all be fish food."
I leaned back, tossing the last piece of the nugget into my mouth. "That's why I'm here, isn't it? To learn? If I knew how to handle this thing perfectly, I'd be in a skyscraper in Metropolis, not a cave in Happy Harbor."
I looked at Superboy. "Besides, I'm not the only one here who's a 'dangerous' work in progress, am I?"
Superboy's grip tightened on his fork, the metal groaning under the pressure. The tension was thick enough to cut with a Batarang. I had successfully pivoted the focus from my "theft" to the collective instability of the Team. We were all freaks. We were all projects.
"We are all learning," Kaldur said, his voice firm, ending the debate. "Vex, tomorrow you will begin advanced construct training with John Stewart. He is currently off-world, but he has left a series of hard-light simulations for you to complete."
"Looking forward to it," I said, though inwardly I knew they wouldn't be much use. Still, I was already planning how to rip the source code from those simulations.
I stood up, clearing my plate. I had established my position. I was the useful, slightly arrogant enigma. They didn't trust me, but they needed me. And as long as they were focused on "fixing" me, they wouldn't notice I was busy taking notes on how to dismantle them.